New Rambo V: Last Blood Photos Reveal His Combat History

New photos from explore the combat history of the title character. Rambo wasn’t conceived as a franchise, with the original ending of First Blood featuring the character committing suicide. Test audiences hated this bleak ending, especially with Stallone so closely tied to underdog roles like Rocky. The ending was thus reshot and the movie’s surprise success led to Rambo: First Blood Part II being greenlit. While the original was more of a psychological drama, the sequel was a full-on action movie, with the central character taking down an entire army by himself.

The bodycount steadily increased with each passing sequel, but for a period it seemed Stallone wouldn’t make a Rambo V. His first concept was a complete genre swap, with the character being tasked with tracking down a monster created by the government. That idea was later dropped in favor of Rambo traveling to Mexico on a rescue mission. During development, Stallone appeared to be constantly on the verge of dropping out since he felt the ending of the previous movie, where Rambo returns to America, was a fitting conclusion to the saga. He even briefly retired from the series in 2016 but was eventually convinced to sign on for Last Blood.

Rambo V: Last Blood promises to be a dark, bloody end to the series, and will be Stallone’s last time playing the character. The star is doing a solid job promoting the film on social media too and has just posted a new photo that runs through Rambo’s combat history from the age of 20, including his time as a helicopter pilot and his years in Special Forces. His lifetime spent at war will play a big part in his arc in the final movie.

Stallone originally retired following the rejection of a pitch he conceived alongside First Blood author David Morrell, with both men feeling this concept was a soulful ending for the character. His concerns about making a fifth movie have obviously been addressed since he finally committed to the project. Stallone appears to be ready to wrap up his action hero days; he recently retired from Rocky Balboa following Creed 2, Rambo V will be his final outing and The Expendables 4 is set to end that franchise in 2020.

That’s not to say Stallone is slowing down. Escape Plan 3: Devil’s Station is due for release sometime this year and he’s set to turn sci-fi/horror novel Hunter – which once formed the basis for – into a movie too. He’s also attached to a dark superhero project dubbed Samaritan.